BIOS

BREAKING

Surgeons in Australia separate conjoined girls from Bhutan

This photo provided by RCH Melbourne Creative Studio, shows the 15-month-old girls before surgery at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Australia Friday, Nov. 9, 2018. Surgeons in Australia have begun separating the conjoined twins from Bhutan in a delicate operation expected to last most of the day. (RCH Melbourne Creative Studio via AP)

The girls were joined from the lower chest to just above the pelvis. They shared a liver, but doctors started the procedure unsure if they also shared a bowel. Crameri said there were no major problems with the bowel attachment.

He said the major challenge had been to reconstruct the twins' abdomens.

Crameri said the girls would be closely monitored and that his team felt "quietly confident that we will have a good result."

He added that the girls' mother, Bhumchu Zangmo, was "smiling, very happy, and grateful."